Jun. 12, 2015

Repurposing Drugs to Discover New Treatments

Could approved drugs be repurposed to discover new treatments for chronic and rare diseases? Denise Faustman, Director of Immunobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital East, has begun a Phase II clinical trial to test if a tuberculosis vaccine can be used to treat Type I diabetes. And geneticist Christina Waters’ organization, RARE Science, works with patients and researchers to match drugs for rare diseases. Faustman and Waters discuss the potential of this approach to treatment.